Emile Heskey Challenges Jadon Sancho And Talks About Birmingham’s Aspirations

If there was a club that tried to find value in the free agent and loan market in the 2025 summer window, it was Aston Villa. The Villans, whose transfer activity has been constrained by PSR thresholds, brought in players who were surplus to requirements at other clubs. Chief among them being Harvey Elliott, who struggled for game time at Liverpool and Jadon Sancho, who didn’t have a future at Manchester United.

We spoke to ex-Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey about the Villans’ transfers, and he laid down a challenge for Sancho.

Heskey also spoke about the expectations from Villa’s rivals Birmingham City, who have invested heavily in order to return to top flight football.

Sancho needs to shut down outside noise and show what he can do

It’s fair to say Jadon Sancho has not lived up to the reputation he forged when he was thriving for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. He struggled to find form and consistency at Manchester United, and his loan spell last season at Chelsea was hardly extraordinary.

A move to Villa could reignite his career, and Heskey’s advice to him is to disregard others’ opinions and focus on his own capabilities.

“I think Jadon Sancho, everyone says he's got something to prove, but he's just got to go out there and show. As long as he can just go out there, enjoy his football and show his ability, you've got a good player there."

"If he comes onto the pitch and goes. 'I've got to do this, I've got to do that, I've got to show that you were wrong', then that's an issue. It's got nothing to do with anyone else and what they think. Just show me that you're capable of taking a player on, that I've seen before. Show me that you can get to the back post and score goals, show me that you can assist and show me that you're capable of chasing back. Don't worry about anyone else, worry about that. I'll be happy and Villa fans will get behind you and they're great when they get behind you."

Still, Heskey is looking forward to seeing Sancho and Elliott in Villa colours. He sees them adding more creativity to the squad and also thinks Elliott can chip in with crucial goals.

"Elliott and Sancho will definitely bring that creativity. You've got two new fantastic players and you have an unbelievable manager. Emery doesn't clubbed there with everyone else but he deserves the respect, to be honest with you. He's turned Villa around.”

Aston Villa have been hamstrung by PSR

While speaking about his former club, Heskey criticised the Premier League’s PSR as, in his view, they have allowed the top clubs to increase the gap between themselves and the likes of Aston Villa, Newcastle and other teams that are on the cusp of becoming legitimate contenders.

Heskey thinks something needs to be done about it as he would like to see around six clubs competing for the Premier League title.

"They've been a bit hamstrung with PSR. We need to figure that bit out. The thing for me is that I want a league that has at least four chasing the title, if not six. That would be fantastic where you're going into the last games of the season and you don't know who'll be the winner. You've got six or four clubs fighting for it. That would be great."

"At the minute, we've got clubs running away with it because they're able to generate sponsorship more than others and spend more than others. Forest did it a bit differently and took a little bit of a hit but you have to spend the money."

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Birmingham City aren’t ready to make the jump to the Premier League

The Blues, under Chris Davies, are attempting to emulate Ipswich by registering back-to-back promotions. Considerable resources have been invested by the St. Andrews-based outfit, and having NFL icon Tom Brady as a minority owner has brought a lot of publicity.

Birmingham fans are definitely hoping to be back in the Premier League after a 15-year exile, but Heskey isn’t convinced that his former side has the requisite experience yet.

"We watched Ipswich go back to back didn't we? Luton were close to doing that too. Ipswich did back to back. And that's one of the things that Birmingham fans will be looking at. Can they do that?"

"If I put my realistic hat on I'd say Birmingham need a year or two in the Championship just to settle things down. Are they ready to take the jump into the Premier League with the squad that they've got right now? They're not. I don't think so."

Despite that opinion, he has not ruled out a promotion for the Blues as the frantic nature of the Championship presents opportunities where Davies’ side can sneak into the playoffs - something Heskey himself experienced while at Leicester in the 1995-96 season.

"But I won't put it past them if they did gain promotion to the Premier League."

"I remember when Martin O'Neill took us into the Premier League. It was our last 11 games and we were outside the playoff spots, mid-table. We snuck into the playoffs and won it. We won nine of the last 10 games and snuck into the playoffs."

"And that's what can happen. We won the playoffs and stayed up in the Premier League."

"You've got Frank in at Coventry and all these clubs with high expectations. I love watching the Championship in that sense. It's so frantic with so many games."

"You know what Birmingham have got half-a-chance but for me, they would be better off by first stabilising and then go again, have another kick."

Read more as Emile Heskey offers Arne Slot some advice regarding Liverpool's striker congestion